How to Live Stream with OBS (Open Broadcasting Software)

Learn how to Stream Live with the free OBS Studio software

Written by Rene Updated over a week ago

In this article you will learn how to Live Stream to your Live Player using your OBS Studio software encoder. If you want to check out some Live Streaming Demos and extra information please visit our Live Streaming information page.

HOW TO STREAM WITH OBS STUDIO

Now select the 🎥 Live Studio button in the top media view. This will open the Live Studio in a Popup window.

Choose RTMP Encoder as your Source.

Install and open OBS Studio on our Computer.

With OBS started, open the settings window.

Select the Output tab and set the Stream type to Custom Streaming Server

Now enter the RTMP URL and RTMP KEY.

back the Live Studio, you will be able to see and copy the RTMP URL and well as the Stream Key to OBS.

With the RTMP Server setup completed we can now click on the Outputtab to customise our output settings.

Under Streaming you can select Video Bitrate and change it to our desired rate.

Encoder should be set to x264

Set your desired Audio Bit Rate.

Complete the setup by saving your changes with the OK button.

Now simply select the ➕ button to choose a Source to stream. (See OBS Sources below)

With a local source set up we can now start sending the stream to the Live Studio by clicking on the Start Streaming Button.

Back in the Live Studio we are able to see the incoming stream in the Local Preview Window.

When we are ready to transmit the feed to our viewers we simply click on the Start Broadcast button.

The feeds now visible by our audience in the Live Player.

When we want to stop the stream we can either stop it from OBS by clicking on the Stop Broadcasting button which will keep the Live Player ready to steam as soon as click on the Start Broadcasting button in OBS.

Or we can stop the broadcast from our Live Studio by pressing the Stop Broadcast button beneath the Local Preview window. This will require us to re-start the broadcast from the Live Studio next time we do a live stream.

OBS SOURCES

OBS has a large array of different types of sources that you can configure and stream. In this tutorial we will be focusing on the 2 main sources: Cameras via Video Capture Device and Desktop via Window Capture.

CAMERAS VIA CAPTURE DEVICE

Select the Video Capture Device as your source.

In the popup select 🔘 Create New and enter a name for your Camera.

In the next Properties panel, choose your Camera from the Device drop-down menu and select your desired Preset resolution.

Save by clicking the OK button.

DESKTOP VIA WINDOW CAPTURE

Select the Window Capture as your source.

In the popup select 🔘 Create New and enter a name for your capture.

In the next Properties panel, choose from the drop-down menu which Window you would like to stream.

Save by clicking the OK button.

📝 NOTES:

OBS Studio is a great program with many advanced features. Although we go through the the simple setup methods above you can also do many extra things such as settings Scenes with multiple Sources. We encourage you to read the OBS Wiki for more advanced techniques.